Washington (CNN) - Hours before Montana Democratic Lt. Gov. John Walsh gets sworn into the U.S. Senate, he's coming under attack by national Republican groups.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee went up early Tuesday with a website titled "Where's Walsh-o" that's critical of the new senator. And American Crossroads, the pro-GOP independent super PAC co-founded by Karl Rove, plans to welcome Walsh into the Senate with an attack ad that's set to run back in Montana.

(CNN) – Sen. Max Baucus was confirmed unanimously Thursday by his Senate colleagues to be U.S. ambassador to China.

The Montana Democrat, who currently chairs the Senate Finance Committee, was tapped by President Barack Obama for the high-profile diplomatic post after announcing he would leave the Senate after serving six terms – nearly 36 years.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama is planning to nominate Sen. Max Baucus as U.S. ambassador to China, a Democratic official told CNN.

The Montana Democrat is retiring from Congress.

A longtime Baucus friend and confidante speaking on condition of anonymity told CNN's John King the Senator informed him directly that the China appointment was true. A spokesman for Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and a close friend of Baucus, confirmed to CNN's Paul Steinhauser that Hatch told the Washington Post that Baucus is the ambassadorial pick.

(CNN) – It was a tense moment on an emotionally charged topic: the daughter of the slain principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School asking Sen. Kelly Ayotte why, in mid-April, she voted against bolstering background checks on gun sales.

"I'm just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn't as important" as inconveniencing gun sellers, asked Erica Lafferty, daughter of Dawn Hochsprung.FULL POST

(CNN) - Longtime Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, will not seek re-election next year, he said in a statement Tuesday.

"After much consideration and many conversations with my wife Mel and our family, I have decided not to seek reelection in 2014. I will serve out my term, and then it will be time to go home to Montana," he said.FULL POST

(CNN) – While there is currently no plan for Congressional leaders to meet with the president, according to an official familiar with the situation, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus said the two sides should get to work on the fiscal cliff negotiations-and soon, before the U.S. enters “uncharted waters.”

“I think that they should start negotiating right now,” Baucus said Friday on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”FULL POST

Hatch: "This hearing should not be used to score cheap political points, but I am afraid with all due respect Mr. Chairman that that's what we are going to see here today. I have a chart depicting what I expect this hearing will turn into. There you go. I think that's a real nice picture. I think that's pretty good myself."FULL POST